A Praia Das Pétalas De Rosa (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
Please don't read my review if you haven't read this book or if you can't stand lengthy reviews.My first thought? This shouldn't have been named The Rose Petal Beach. It should be called The Traitors or Be Careful Who You Befriend or something darker. Gazing at the cover at the bookstore, I remembered telling myself, "Ah, what a lovely cover design. A woman sitting on the beach with a heap of red rose petals. Must be something deliciously romantic." A few chapters later and those petals slowly bear a chilling resemblance to drops of blood. To murder. This is a spine-tingling, heart-pounding thriller with a sickeningly devastating plot and characters that each harbour secrets of her own. The story is splayed using the voices of mainly three women - Tami, the protagonist, faithful wife and loyal friend, Beatrix, carefree best friend, also a godmother to Tami's youngest and Fleur, a young woman who craves the love of her estranged mother, one she'll never see again. It is so cleverly written because as each character speaks, she sheds light to the mystery yet causes another twist to the events. It was like reading a secret diary stamped with dirty secrets, desperation and shame. There was a part where I wanted to scream at Tami. I don't think I could ever feel pity for someone who has betrayed me... Much less holding her hand and telling her everything would be alright. How would it ever be? Reading Tami's thoughts scared me too because given the circumstances, I might have caused pain to the other person. But can I truly bring myself to murder my best friend? The story of Mirabelle gave this story an interesting and a melancholic edge. "The beautiful runner" chose to retract her initial statement to the police in the name of atonement for her past sin but in the murderer's eyes, it was done out of love for "the new running partner". Shows how much people are willing to believe in what they want to believe. It was also eye-opening to read about the destructive effects of porn addiction. There is porn, and there is rape porn. I guess the saying, “you are what you eat” can also apply here. You are what you watch. It’s good to be careful what you watch online, what you fill your mind with... You may never know how blurry the boundary is, between what you can and cannot do morally. My only grievance is the author’s choice of who the murderer was. Why that person? For those of you who understand where I am coming from, it’s as if Harry Potter found out that it wasn’t Snape who had been helping him all along, it was some unfamiliar tent builder he met during the Quidditch World Cup. My point is, the murderer was someone whom I thought played too minor a role in this story. It would have been nail-bitingly awesome if it were to be a more central character. That would have been the icing on the cake. But no matter, believe me when I say this is a marvellous piece of work and I am truly humbled by Dorothy Koomson. As someone who has read a lot of Dorothy Koomson's novels I would have to say this is my favourite if not it is definitely up there with The Ice Cream Girls. The novel centres around Tami and her world falling apart when her husband is arrested what follows from this is a fast paced tale told in the present day and with flash backs to the past focusing on three women; Tami, Beatrix and Mirabelle and later Fleur, and how their lives are intertwined. Some of the novel is easy to work out I thought Beatrix's sub-plots were obvious and I saw them coming a mile away, but this did not detract any enjoyment from the novel. As usual Koomson has created an array of wonderful characters that are 'real' and therefore easy to relate to them and their various problems, I thought that the character of Tami Challey was particularly well written as a strong yet vulnerable woman who turns out to be truly amazing when she herself if having a difficult time. The Rose Petal Beach does deliver twists and turns along the way which only add to the enjoyment of the novel and what I always like about Koomson's novels is that everything is tied up at the end, all the main characters and threads are revisited, providing a fitting ending. The Rose Petal Beach is very well written and incredibly moving, and really gets the reader involved in the lives of the characters, overall this is a definite must read.
What do You think about A Praia Das Pétalas De Rosa (2012)?
Yorum sonra...Çok çarpıcı bir romandı..
—KMarilena
